(1) Not later than twenty calendar days after the end of each
calendar quarter, and more frequently if directed by the
commissioner, each distributor or stamping agent shall submit
information required by the commissioner to facilitate compliance
with this article, including, but not limited to, a list by brand
family of the total number of cigarettes of nonparticipating
manufacturers, or in the case of roll your own, the equivalent
stick count, for which the distributor or other stamping agent
affixed West Virginia stamps and sold in West Virginia during the
previous calendar quarter or otherwise paid the tax due for the
cigarettes.

(2) The distributor or stamping agent shall maintain, and make
available to the commissioner, all invoices and documentation of
sales of all nonparticipating manufacturer cigarettes sold in West
Virginia and any other information relied upon in reporting to the
commissioner for a period of five years.

(b) Disclosure of information. -- The commissioner may
disclose to the Attorney General of this state any information
received under this article and requested by the Attorney General
for purposes of determining compliance with and enforcing the
provisions of this article. The commissioner and the Attorney
General shall share with each other the information received under
this article, and may share the information with other federal, state or local agencies only for purposes of enforcement of this
article, article nine-b of this chapter, or corresponding laws of
other states. The commissioner is further directed, upon request
of a nonparticipating manufacturer, to disclose to that
nonparticipating manufacturer any information that has been
provided by a distributor or stamping agent as required by this
section regarding the purchases from that manufacturer upon which
tax stamps have been applied and cigarettes sold in West Virginia.
(c) Verification of qualified escrow fund. -- The Attorney
General may require at any time from the nonparticipating
manufacturer proof, from the financial institution in which the
manufacturer has established a qualified escrow fund for the
purpose of compliance with article nine-b of this chapter, of the
amount of money in the fund, exclusive of interest, the amount and
date of each deposit to the qualified escrow fund, and the amount
and date of each withdrawal from the fund.

(d) Requests for additional information. -- In addition to the
information required to be submitted pursuant to this section, the
Attorney General may require a stamping agent, distributor or
tobacco product manufacturer to submit any additional information
including, but not limited to, samples of the packaging or labeling
of each brand family, that is necessary to enable the Attorney
General to determine whether a tobacco product manufacturer is in
compliance with this article.

(e) Quarterly escrow installments. -- To promote compliance with the provisions of this article, a tobacco product manufacturer
subject to the requirements of subdivision (2), subsection (a),
section three of this article, who, in the opinion of the Attorney
General, materially defaults in fully funding its escrow account
timely and then cures the default shall make escrow deposits for
the calendar year during which the default was cured and ensuing
calendar years in quarterly installments during the year in which
the sales covered by such deposits are made. The Attorney General
may require production of information sufficient to enable the
Attorney General to determine the adequacy of the amount of the
installment deposit.
Note: WV Code updated with legislation passed through the 2016 Regular Session
The West Virginia Code Online is an unofficial copy of the annotated WV Code, provided as a convenience. It has NOT been edited for publication, and is not in any way official or authoritative.